Aberdeen Man Sentenced To 12 Years In Prison For Sexual Contact With Two Boys At Fort Lee, Virginia And For Possessing Child Pornography

Baltimore, Maryland – U.S. District Judge William D. Quarles, Jr. sentenced Marcus Smith, age 21, of Aberdeen, Maryland, on September 18, 2014, to 12 years in prison followed by 25 years of supervised release for possessing child pornography and two counts of abusive sexual contact. Judge Quarles ordered that upon his release from prison, Smith must register as a sex offender in the place where he resides, where he is an employee, and where he is a student, under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA).

The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Dana J. Boente; Special Agent in Charge Stephen E. Vogt of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Colonel Marcus L. Brown, Superintendent of the Maryland State Police; and Harford County Sheriff L. Jesse Bane.

According to his plea agreement, in the summer of 2011, Smith was suspected of committing sexual assaults at a military installation in Virginia. FBI agents interviewed him and a search warrant was executed at his residence. The investigation revealed that on June 25, 2011 at a home on Fort Lee, Virginia, Smith had sexual contact with a nine year old boy. After Smith followed the victim into a bathroom, Smith called him into a bedroom. Smith restrained the victim, pulled off the victim’s pants and underwear, and touched the victim’s genitalia.

Also, from July 2009 to June 25, 2011 at a home on Fort Lee, Smith had sexual contact on more than one occasion with another child who was eight to 10 years old during this time. Smith made the victim remove his clothes and Smith touched the victim’s genitalia. Smith admits he ejaculated during his contact with the second victim on at least one occasion.

In the summer of 2012, further information was provided to the FBI that Smith may have child pornography in his possession. Law enforcement again executed a search warrant at Smith’s residence on August 24, 2012 and seized a cell phone which contained images of child pornography, including boys engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc. For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.justice.gov/psc and click on the "resources" tab on the left of the page.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended the FBI, Maryland State Police, Harford County Sheriff’s Office and U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia for their work in the investigation and prosecution. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney P. Michael Cunningham from the District of Maryland and Assistant U.S. Attorney Heather L. Hart from the Eastern District of Virginia, who prosecuted the case.